[Clinical and functional characteristics of changes in the optic nerve in juvenile diabetic retinopathy]

A total of 611 patients (1222 eyes) with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus which manifested at the age of 1-15 years were examined. Optic nerve was examined in 3 groups: 1) 177 students of Kharkov boarding school for diabetic children, 2) 78 patients aged 6-18 years treated on an outpatient basis, and 3) 356 patients aged 20-54 years. Optic nerve involvement was detected 43.5 times more often in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy than in those with preproliferative diabetic retinopathy and 3 times more often in group 2 than in group 1. Chromatic visocontrastometry detected impaired spatial contrast sensitivity before manifestation of disorders in visual acuity and visual field. The earliest disorders in spatial contrast sensitivity were detected by red-white patterns.